Dear Friend,

Some of you know essential workers. Some of you are essential workers. Regardless of whether you know one or are one, we all understand how vital essential workers are in helping our society to weather this pandemic.

They enable us to shelter-in-place by putting food on shelves. They transport health workers, ensure we have clean water, and work across our healthcare system to protect our health and safety. And they care for the elderly and critically ill.

Despite our dependence on essential workers, the Trump administration and Mitch McConnell’s Senate have failed to protect and adequately compensate essential workers, despite bailing out cruise lines, airlines, and big business.(1)

This is unacceptable. Congress must pass the Essential Workers Bill of Rights -- authored by California’s own Ro Khanna and Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren -- as part of the next relief package in order to protect the health and well-being of essential workers and their families. The Bill of Rights gives them the compensation and job protections they deserve while they risk their lives to care and provide for all of us.

Sign the petition and we’ll make sure your members of Congress know you want them to commit to pass the Essential Workers Bill of Rights.

More than 30 grocery workers and 27 health workers across the nation have died from the coronavirus.(2) Forty-one transit workers have died in New York.(3) And we’ve seen deaths of elder care, health care, grocery, warehouse, and city workers right here in California.(4)

Despite the rise of the death toll, workers have been denied sick leave while being required to work longer hours, without adequate protective gear, in order to meet heightened demand during the pandemic.(5)

That’s why Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced the Essential Workers Bill of Rights, which would ensure that essential workers have:

• Workplace-appropriate health and safety protections, including personal protective equipment.
• Fair and equitable hazard pay that recognizes the higher risks that essential workers are facing, prioritizing workers who earn low wages and thus need it most.
• Protection for all collective bargaining agreements so that they cannot be changed or dissolved by employers during this crisis.
• Truly universal paid sick leave and family and medical leave so all essential workers, without exception, can care for themselves, family members, or dependents.
• Protections for whistleblowers so workers who witness unsafe conditions can identify concerns without fear of retaliation.
• An end to employers’ misclassification of workers as “independent contractors” as a way to avoid providing the full suite of benefits and protections available to employees.
• Health care for all workers during this crisis, regardless of immigration status, and no-cost health care for employees who lose eligibility for health care coverage.
• Guaranteed child care to ensure essential workers have access to reliable, safe, healthy, and high-quality child care.
• A place at the table in setting safety and compensation standards in response to the coronavirus to ensure we are better prepared going forward.
• Accountability for corporations so that taxpayers dollars go to help workers, not wealthy CEOs, shareholders, or political cronies.(6)

The proposed Essential Workers Bill of Rights has bipartisan support among Americans -- with 75% support overall.(7) There’s no excuse for Congress not to pass it. While workers care for us, we must care for them. As part of the next stimulus, we must enact an Essential Workers Bill of Rights.

Ask your member of Congress to pass the Essential Workers Bill of Rights!

Yours in the fight for humanity,

Angela, along with Annie, Brian, Caitlin, Deepthi, Eddie, Gabby, Jay, Lindsay, Molly, and Raquel (the Courage team)

Footnotes:
1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/25/still-too-big-fail-us-is-primed-bail-out-corporations-again/ & https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/world/coronavirus-live-news-updates.html
2. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grocery-store-workers-first-responders-essential-workers-coronavirus/ & https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/15/coronavirus-us-health-care-worker-death-toll-higher-official-data-suggests
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/coronavirus-nyc-mta-subway.html
4. https://www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/safeway-warehouse-employee-died-from-covid-19/103-9d9047da-6896-4e56-b47b-b0dfd2dfa7f8?, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-31/hospitals-nursing-homes-become-battleground-as-california-coronavirus-deaths-rise?, https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article241762581.html?, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/14/woman-20-who-worked-at-riverside-nursing-home-with-outbreak-dies-from-coronavirus/?, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-11/2-l-a-city-workers-die-of-coronavirus & https://thehill.com/policy/technology/492807-first-amazon-warehouse-worker-dies-of-coronavirus
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/13/elizabeth-warren-workers-protections-coronavirus
6. https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/elizabeth-warren-and-ro-khanna-unveil-essential-workers-bill-of-rights
7. https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/voters-support-essential-workers-rights

Courage California (formerly Courage Campaign) makes sure our democracy works for ALL of us by fighting corruption in California politics. We believe the solution lies in exposing and solving systemic problems through strategic organizing, enhancing coordination between progressive organizations, and mobilizing civic engagement from our communities, particularly voters of color, young voters, and self-identified progressives.